23. Leiodes akiyamai sp. nov.

Japanese name: Akiyama-ô-tamakinokomushi (Figs. 70–71)

Type locality. Japan, Shikoku, Ehime Pref., Matsuyama City, Komenono.

Type material. JAPAN: HONSHU: HOLOTYPE: ♀, Ehime Pref., Matsuyama City, Komenono, 21.i.2007, Y. Satô leg. (EUMJ). PARATYPE: 1 ♀, same data as the holotype (EUMJ).

Diagnosis. Body 3.2–3.4 mm long, ca. 1.9× as long as wide. Dorsum and antennae almost unicolor, brown. Elytra densely, irregularly and coarsely punctate. Median carina of mesoventrite low except for extremely projecting portion near transverse carina. Basal four tarsomeres of female pro- and mesotarsi expanded. Female abdominal sternite 8 with a spiculum ventrale.

Description. Measurement of holotype: Body length 3.4 mm; head 0.60 mm long and 0.95 mm wide; pronotum 1.0 mm long and 1.6 mm wide; elytra 2.2 mm long and 1.8 mm wide.

Coloration. Dorsum shining and almost unicolor, brown; antennae almost unicolor, brown; legs brown; mesoventrite, metaventrite and abdominal ventrites brown.

Body 3.2–3.4 mm long, ca. 1.9× as long as wide.

Head ca. 1.5× as wide as long, ca. 0.62× as long as and 0.60× as wide as pronotum, distinctly and densely punctate, bearing some large punctures (Fig. 70A); antennomeres 1–3 each longer than wide; antennomeres 4 and 11 each about as long as wide; remaining antennomeres each wider than long; antennomere 11 oval (Fig. 70C); relative lengths of antennomeres 2 to 11 – 2.8: 4.3: 1.9: 1.8: 1.4: 2.8: 1.0: 3.4: 3.4: 5.1.

Pronotum ca. 1.6× as wide as long, ca. 0.46× as long as and ca. 0.87 as wide as elytra, widest near base, feebly sinuate at posterior margin, distinctly and densely punctate, punctation similar to that on head (Fig. 70A).

Scutellum distinctly punctate.

Elytra ca. 1.2× as long as wide in dorsal view, widest ca. at basal 2/5 (Fig. 70A), not transversely strigose, densely, irregularly and coarsely punctate (Figs. 70A, 70B); punctation of elytra consisting of punctures of various sizes (Fig. 70D); sutural stria very fine, reaching from apex to ca. apical 2/5 of elytral length.

Metathoracic wings fully developed.

Mesoventrite strongly microreticulate, impunctate, and almost glabrous; median carina of mesoventrite with distinct hump near a transverse carina (Fig. 70E); metaventrite sparsely and finely pubescent, strongly microreticulate.

All femora slender; protibiae gradually and feebly widening from base to apex (Fig. 71C); tarsomeres 1–4 of protarsi and mesotarsi expanded (Fig. 71A); metafemur with a small dorsal projection posteroapically (Fig. 71D); metatibiae almost straight (Fig. 71B).

Abdominal sternite 8 with a spiculum ventrale at central point of anterior margin (Fig. 71E); coxites and stylus as in Fig. 71F.

Male. Unknown.

Diffrential diagnosis. Leiodes species are usually described on the basis of male specimens. However, the above female specimens differ substantially from all known Leiodes by the characters mentioned below, allowing me to describe the new species even though its male remains unknown.

DAFFNER (1983) considered the median carina of the mesoventrite as an important morphological character at the subgeneric level. Leiodes akiyamai sp. nov. has a distinctive median carina (Fig. 70E) and can be therefore easily distinguished from all other species inhabiting Japan and neighbouring regions. Moreover, the female protarsi and mesotarsi of most of species of Leiodes are slender, whereas tarsomeres 1–4 of the pro- and mesotarsi are expanded in L. akiyamai sp. nov. (Fig. 71A), as is generally the case in the male protarsi and mesotarsi of most species of Leiodes . In this character, Leiodes akiyamai sp. nov. is similar to L. stocki Švec, 1996 in which the female protarsi and mesotarsi are also expanded, but can be separated from it by having a distinctive median carina of the mesoventrite and the metafemora feebly expanded posteroapically at the dorsal side (Fig. 71D). In contrast, L. stocki has a low median carina similar to that on Fig. 16F, and its metafemora are strongly expanded.

Etymology. This species is dedicated to Saneyuki Akiyama (1868–1918), a hero of a popular novel Saka-no-ue-no-kumo whose story is situated in the Matsuyama City, the type locality of L. akiyamai sp. nov.

Distribution. Japan: Shikoku (Ehime Prefecture).